You Stab Me in the Back…
by mmooch
Summary: **The 'Betrayal' Part of the 2013 LiveJournal's Twisted Shorts FaD** series. Two former Sunnydalians(ites) find each other in Eureka.
1. Chapter 1: Aug 2, 2013 – I Stab You

**You Stab Me in the Back…**

Summary: **The 'Betrayal' Part of the 2013 LiveJournal's Twisted Shorts FaD** series. Things are a little different in Sunnydale when Buffy arrives. Then again, so is she.

Timeline: _'Welcome to the Hellmouth'_ and _'The Harvest'_ for BtVS; vague for movie'verse Blade.

Challenge: for the livejournal 2013 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Warning: character deaths, Slayerette bashing. And some Monty Python-ish type humor at the end.

A/N: This is the opening ficlet to my YABF (Yet Another Betrayal Fic) collection. Just like with the 'Real Family' collection, let me know if you have any ideas for fandoms that could help Buffy when she's betrayed.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. Blade characters belong to Marv Wolfman, Gene Colan, Marvel Comics and New Line Cinema. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

**Chapter 1: August 2, 2013 – I Stab You in the Back**

**Tunnels near the Master's Lair**

Buffy and Xander followed Jesse through the tunnels away from the vampires. Unfortunately, he ended up leading them into a dead end.

"What do we do?" Xander asked Buffy as she looked for a way to get out.

Jesse answered him instead, "I got an idea. You can die."

When Buffy and Xander turned to look at him, his face was in full vamp mode. Strangely enough, instead of being horrified, Xander gave a happy cheer and hugged his friend again.

"Jesse, man, this is so awesome! Does this mean we all get turned?" he pleaded with his best bud.

Jesse's gaze shifted over to where Buffy was standing and he gave her a predatory grin. "Just as soon as we deliver the Slayer to the Master."

Laughing, Xander looped his arm around Jesse's shoulder as he filled the new vampire in on what happened above ground since his disappearance, "It was hilarious! She and the librarian, Giles, gave Will and me the whole vampires lecture. It was so fun to steer them in the direction of the tunnels so she'd come to rescue you. Will had that fainting damsel routine going strong. _'Breathe, Willow, breathe'_," he added mockingly in a fake-Buffy voice.

"Ah, so the graveyard scene was just that…a scene?" Buffy guessed.

"Well, we had to come up with something when Xander told us about overhearing you and book guy talking about vampires and Slayers," Jesse answered. "The Master wanted to find out if you really were a Slayer or not. We figured that you'd try to save your new friends if we were taken by vampires. Thanks for being so predictable, by the way."

"You, too," Buffy snarked back, much to the boys' shock. She gestured over her shoulder and said, "Haven't you noticed that the other vamps haven't caught up to us yet, despite only being seconds behind us? I knew you guys were familiars within seconds of meeting you. You really should hide your owner tags better. I saw Xander's when he helped me pick up my things in the hallway and Willow's when she was leaned over the water fountain. I figured that if they were both lap dogs, you probably were too, and got my confirmation during lunch while you attempted to hit on Cordelia. That's when I called an old friend."

"You 'bout ready to go, blondie?" a voice growled from the shadows behind Buffy. "I took care of the bloodsuckers that were behind you."

"In a moment, Blade," she replied. Then she turned back to the boys. "Hmm, what to do with you two… Well, my Calling requires that I kill evil vampires, but I do need somebody to take a message to the Master. Chances are that that messenger will either be tortured or die or both. What do you think, Blade?"

"Kill the sucker and let the familiar carry the message. He doesn't deserve any sympathy," came the harsh reply.

"I suppose you're right. It's not as if you became a familiar out of fear or anything; you seemed pretty jammed about it to me," Buffy told Xander while she took a small tube with a needle on the end out of her coat and tossed it into Jesse's chest. She ignored Jesse's cries of anguish as he died while she gave Xander the message, "So here's what you get to tell the _Master,_" she paused to snicker at the presumptive name the vamp gave himself, "Not only does he have the attention of a Vampire Slayer, but he also has the Daywalker coming for him. While I might not scare him that much, I'd be willing to bet that he'll be peeing himself when he finds out Blade's here."

"After we save her Watcher, we're coming back for the head bloodsucker," Blade promised, coming to stand next to Buffy so Xander could give the Master a description of the so-called Daywalker.

As they walked out of the tunnels together, Buffy's mind went back to LA, just after Merrick died. Blade and Whistler showed up and said that they'd help her fight Lothos and his minions as a way of repaying Merrick for some favor he did for them in the past. They knew that she wouldn't be able to survive the upcoming battle on her own…not with the minimal amount of training she had so far.

She really wished that Whistler was one of those Watcher guys 'cause he didn't mind her using more modern weapons. Blade was something else. Most of the time (like 99.99%), he seemed annoyed to have to train her. The remaining 0.01%, he appeared almost fond of her…like she was his little, white sister.

When she asked Whistler about it – because she wasn't about to ask Blade – he said that Blade probably appreciated that she was as stuck as he was. She didn't seek out being the Slayer any more than he wanted to be born a daywalker. That, and they both had a mission to kill vampires.

After they helped with Lothos, they explained to her about the difference in vampire races. If she ever came across the race that had human familiars, she was to call them for back up before attempting to battle the vamps.

When she caught a glimpse of Blade before going into the mausoleum, she knew that she could go along with whatever scene Xander and Jesse had planned for her. Blade would make sure she wouldn't die, and maybe she'd get a little info about the big bad in town who marked them. The Master…the name still made her giggle.

"What's so funny?" Blade demanded.

"The big bad's name and the fact that Jesse said he was supposed to be bait for me. Made me wonder if that means the head bloodsucker is a Master Baiter?"

Although he'd deny it, Blade's lips quirked up momentarily at the bad pun she made.

* * *

A/N: I know that pun's been done to death, but I couldn't help myself.


	2. Chapter 2: Aug 5, 2013 – I Get Someone

**Chapter 2: August 5, 2013 –****…I Get Someone Else to Watch It**

Chapter Summary: **The 'Betrayal' Part of the 2013 LiveJournal's Twisted Shorts FaD** series. The Watchers Council didn't expect that Buffy wasn't exactly alone in the world.

Timeline: somewhat AU _'Helpless'_ for BtVS; vague for movie'verse Batman.

Challenge: for the livejournal 2013 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Warning: anti-Giles (I'm pretending he didn't have a change of heart).

A/N: Let me know if you have any ideas for fandoms that could help Buffy when she's betrayed or ways she could be betrayed by the others.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. Batman characters belong to Warner Bros and DC Comics. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**1630 Revello Drive**

As soon as she got home from the school library, Buffy dug through her slaying trunk, looking for a scrap of paper she got from somebody she saved in Las Vegas a couple years back. He promised to help her if she ever needed, and the sincerity in his eyes made her keep the phone number instead of throwing it out like she normally would do. It came in handy a once or twice already…and she was hoping it would again.

"Hey, it's Buffy…from Vegas a couple years ago?" she half-introduced herself when she heard his familiar voice answer the phone. To her shock, he instantly remembered her. "Umm, I have a problem that I think I need help with." Pausing while he replied with a question, she then added, "No, the murder charge last spring was cleared up by the time I got home…just like you said it would be."

Buffy took a deep breath to calm herself and reconsider the accusation she was about to make. Once she said it out loud, it would be real and whether she was right or not, the accusation would be out there. "Something strange is going on with my powers, and I think Giles knows what it is and isn't telling me." She listened for a little bit, then said, "I hope not. I can't imagine why he'd be doing anything to make me weak and non-Slayerish. But normally when I come to him with a concern, he at least seems interested in getting all the details about it. This time, he basically blew me off."

She waited while he thought over the problem, then wrinkled her nose at the order he gave her. "You know needles and me are non-mixy things, right?" He insisted she obey him. "Fine. I'll get some blood drawn and have it overnighted to you. Thanks for helping me."

* * *

**Gotham**

**The next day…**

On the rooftop of the police station, Commissioner Gordon waited impatiently for Batman to arrive. When the masked crusader showed up, Gordon held out a small, Styrofoam container for him. "I need a favor. A close friend has been feeling off lately, and I'm afraid that there's something wrong with her. I was hoping that you could do a check of her blood work quicker than any other lab could."

"There's some kind of time concern, then?" Batman growled in his vigilante voice, surprised that Gordon would use the signal for a personal issue. This woman must be very important to him.

Gordon didn't want to tell him too much – especially about the Slayer issue – but knew that he had to give Batman something if he expected any help. "Let's just say that the longer she doesn't feel like herself, the greater the chances are that she and a lot of other people will die."

Given that the Commissioner wasn't prone to exaggerations, Batman took the concern seriously. Hopefully the blood would provide some answers.

* * *

**18 hours later…**

Batman didn't stop for small talk when he arrived on the roof with his results. "It's a combination of drugs that work as a broad-spectrum inhibitor. It most likely interferes with her immune system, physical strength and stamina, as well as stimulant that causes insomnia. Basically, it's torture in drug form. What can you tell me about the woman and why somebody might be doing this to her?"

"Is there a way to counter it?" Gordon asked after debating with himself about how much he should tell his ally.

Holding out a box, Batman explained, "It'd be better to stop the drugs altogether, but I think these should minimize the effects of the other drugs. What about the woman?" he persisted.

"What do you know about vampires?" Gordon inquired, seemingly changing the subject.

"The movies have it mostly right when it comes to ways to kill them, but overestimate their powers," he calmly replied. "They tend to stay away from Gotham because of the human criminal element."

"Small mercies," Gordon murmured. "My friend has powers that make it easier to fight vampires. Problem is that for the last couple days, she's feeling weak but not really sickly. She rarely gets sick because of her powers. If she can't fight, then…" he trailed off.

"…People die or get turned," Batman finished for him. He thought for a moment, then came to a somewhat impulsive decision. "How far away is she?"

"In California," Gordon answered. "Why?"

"Because we need to get this to her immediately. You available for the next twelve hours or so?" Batman asked. "I figured that she would only trust the pills if they came from you."

"I can't get away for that long on such short notice…even though I really want to," Gordon said reluctantly. "I can call and tell her to trust you, though. How long should it take for your pills to neutralize what's in her system?"

"Depends on her metabolism. If she needs it to work really fast, I'd have to make a hypodermic of it to inject directly into her bloodstream. Otherwise, it'd take a couple hours," Batman answered. Gordon's response would tell him just how dire the situation was.

"She hates needles, but she'll want the shot," Gordon said without any hesitation. He paused for a minute, then added, "She's basically the opposite of you. You can know her name, but not her alter-ego. Oh, and Batman? Thank you for this." He handed Batman a piece of paper with Buffy's name and address on it.

"Glad I could help," Batman said before swooping off in his normal dramatic fashion. He had to admit, he was curious about this Summers woman. He had heard rumors of a super-powered female who fought vampires. Maybe Summers was that woman.

* * *

**Sunnydale**

Batman caught Buffy just as she was getting home from Angel's. She had barely escaped the hummer and his friend when Cordy came along and gave her a ride home. Cordy had just driven off when Batman made his presence known to her.

She took in his costume with a quirk of her eyebrow, proving once again the resilience of youth. The fact that she wanted to tease the man in front of her instead of begging Angel to come over and comfort her would have shocked her if she had thought of it. "Let me guess, you're the friend from Gotham?"

"I am, but maybe we should continue this indoors?" Batman suggested. He wasn't surprised when she simply left the door open behind her rather than inviting him in. She should know the rules better than anyone if she fought vampires.

Before either one of them could say anything else, Buffy grabbed a polaroid that was taped to the wall. Batman could tell it was bad based on her expression.

"Give me the shot!" she demanded.

Really bad, apparently.

He trusted his instincts and handed it over without any discussion. If it were him, he wouldn't accept drugs from an unknown person, but if she was willing to risk it, she must feel it was necessary.

Then it became clear that she had no clue how to give herself a shot, so Batman took the needle back and did it for her, not worrying about swabbing the area. He knew his needle was sterile and she didn't seem like she wanted to wait for any longer than she had to.

Since he was next to her, he saw what the picture was of and had already read the message written on the back. Given the family resemblance, he guessed the woman in the photo was her mother.

"Need help?" he offered as he followed her upstairs where she packed her weapons.

"Can you fight?" she asked.

"I can hold my own," Batman replied humbly, "and I've fought vampires before," he added, figuring that she would be more concerned about his experience in that area.

She shrugged, then lifted her bag to head back down. He took that as acceptance and went with her.

* * *

**The next day…**

Gordon picked up the phone, anxiously awaiting news from either his friend or his ally.

"It was Giles," Buffy's voice told him in a wooden tone. "Some kind of test by the Council." Her voice cracked as she went on, "If it hadn't been for your friend, my mom would have been killed by the vampire they were using to see how good of a Slayer I am. I don't know what to do now," she cried. "Giles said it's a 'time-honored tradition' for any Slayer who makes it to her 18th birthday."

"Then he's a bastard," Gordon snarled. "I wish I had good advice for you, Buffy, but I'm out of my depth on the supernatural. Just know that I'm here for you," he vowed.

She gave a bitter laugh and said, "That's what your friend told me before he went home. He fought pretty good for a civilian. Wonder how much he knows about my world."

"He's good at learning what he doesn't already know," Gordon told her, hoping that Batman had been sincere in his offer of help to her.

"Good to know. Right now, though, I'm going to sleep for a couple days. Thanks for being somebody I can trust."

"Always," Gordon promised.

* * *

A/N: Yes, I know that Giles through in the end, but this episode screamed to be in the Betrayal collection. I let Cordy save her instead of Giles. And I accept that Batman was a bit OOC.


	3. Chapter 3: Aug 8, 2013 – Somebody Does

**Chapter 3: August 8, 2013 – Somebody Does it to You First**

Chapter Summary: **The 'Betrayal' Part of the 2013 LiveJournal's Twisted Shorts FaD** series. Walsh finds that she's not the only one who can betray an ally.

Timeline: early season 4 for BtVS; any time after Deeks joined the team for NCIS:LA.

Challenge: for the livejournal 2013 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Warning: mostly just anti-Walsh and anti-Initiative (the organization, not the people).

A/N: I know this one wasn't about Buffy being betrayed, but the chance to turn the tables on Walsh was too good to pass up. Let me know if you have any ideas for fandoms that could help Buffy when she's betrayed or ways she could be betrayed by the others.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. NCIS: LA characters belong to Shane Brennan, Shane Brennan Productions and CBS. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**NCIS Headquarters, LA**

"Where's Callen," Deeks asked, looking around for the group leader. The other two looked just as lost as to his whereabouts.

"He is on a deep-cover assignment," Hetty answered from behind Deeks, causing him to jump a little. She was like a sneaky ninja, that woman. "The body of one of our Marines has disappeared from the morgue, and his wife's uncle is quite upset about it. He asked me to look into it quietly."

Kensi was suspicious that the wife wasn't screaming about this on the news, so she inquired, "What about the wife? What's she saying?"

"Not much of anything anymore. She and her unborn baby died due to complications during childbirth while her husband was overseas. A sniper's bullet reached him before the Red Cross message could."

Sam let out a low whistle. "Bad week for the family."

Hetty nodded her agreement. "Which is why I would like to return his nephew-in-law's body back to my friend. There were some rumors about a black operation which was commandeering corpses."

"For what?!" Deeks looked horrified at the thought.

"That is what Mr. Callen is attempting to ascertain," Hetty explained. Seeing the looks on her agents' faces, she added, "Rest assured that if he needs your assistance, I won't hesitate to send you there. People who are willing to desecrate the bodies of our people give me the heebie-jeebies."

* * *

**Sunnydale**

Graham pointed to somebody walking into Walsh's professor office and said, "Who's the new guy?"

Glancing over, Riley answered softly, "Name's Gregory Laclen. Supposed to be a real tough guy."

"Kinda old-looking to fit in as a grad student, don't you think?" Forrest remarked, then smirked. "Besides, he might be a badass in normal situations, but how many guys have washed out when faced with our kind of action?"

"I hear a bet in that statement," Graham said, then added, holding out a five dollar bill, "I give him a month."

Riley attempted to look at the two with a disapproving expression. "As your squad leader, I can't condone betting on another member of the Initiative."

Hearing the 'but' in Riley's words, Forrest asked, "And as our friend?"

"A week."

"Then I'll take that he washes out before, during or just after his first taste of action," Forrest said with a grin.

* * *

**Walsh's office**

**Same time…**

Looking over his folder, Walsh was impressed by the recruit as a soldier. What she needed now was a way to pass him off on the civilian side of their operation. "What are your non-combat areas of expertise? I need to find a grad student position for you to serve as a TA in."

Callen thought it over a moment, then suggested, "Languages should work. I'm fluent in half a dozen and passable in a dozen more."

"Impressive," Walsh responded with a nod. "Now, how much were you told about our operation?"

"Not a lot," he said with just the right hint of curiosity and frustration. "Only that it's black, dangerous and if I last to the end of my tour here, I can choose my next assignment."

Walsh looked pleased at his answer. "We are a research facility. It is your duty to capture the subjects that we study."

Carefully keeping his expression neutral, Callen asked, "You need guys from spec ops to be dog catchers?"

"What we study is a different class of creatures," Walsh replied ominously. "Let's take a tour; it'll be easier to show you what I'm talking about."

At this point, Callen was wishing for a panic button that would bring his team running. He had a _very_ bad feeling about this.

Which was why he was surprised when she led him to an observation room where they were seeing a creature being dissected…a creature that wasn't human – as he feared it would be – although it had certain similarities to one…like being a biped. What the hell was it?

As if she heard his silent question, Walsh explained, "That is the Sub-T 67119 demon-class, Polgara species. We've found that it has a skewer that comes out of its forearm. We are attempting to recreate that weapon to be used by humans who don't have the same physiology."

"Sub-T? Demon?" Callen repeated in confusion.

"What we call HST, Hostile Sub-Terrestrials," she answered.

He shook his head to clear it. "Okay, so 'Extra' means aliens, and 'Sub' would mean...?"

"They are from earth, but don't interact with humans like other animals. We tend to be their primary prey."

Now that the shock was clearing a bit, he was able to put longer sentences together. "So the horror movies about monsters like the Creature from the Black Lagoon are…?" he trailed off so she would finish the sentence for him. He was curious how much she would tell him.

"Probably one of our HSTs," Walsh affirmed. "Not just those 'monsters' either. So-called vampires and werewolves exist as well. My team believes that they are just caused by some form of mutation, and believe that if we can isolate the mutation, we can find a way to remove the negative aspects like drinking blood and create stronger and faster soldiers."

Now Callen was past the panic button stage and onto the 'bring a dozen SEAL teams in to shut this place down' stage. Sam might be offended that Callen thought there was a need for more than one team, but this was terrifying.

And it wasn't the vampires that bothered him; he already knew about those things. Monsters like the Polgara were new, however, and even _they_ weren't what scared him the most. It was the doctor next to him that would give him nightmares – if he slept. She was the right combination of intelligence and crazy idealism that made her a bigger threat than the monsters they studied in this place.

He was willing to bet that she wouldn't even hesitate to use her own people in her little experiments to 'improve' humanity. In fact, he would start taking blood samples of himself to be sure that she wasn't doing that to her soldiers already.

* * *

Once he got settled into the frat house and met the rest of his team – Riley, the squad leader, Forrest and Graham – and got his teaching schedule from Walsh, Callen decided to check out the campus and surrounding town. The other guys just warned him about being out on his own after dark.

Walking across the campus had the unpleasant effect of making him feel old. Oh, he had no doubt that he was in better shape than about 95% of the student population, and that was including the soldiers posing as students, but the clothes these kids wore and the things they talked about? Yeah, definitely old.

He just had to remind himself that part of the reason he did what he did was so that they could be as frivolous as they wanted because other were keeping them safe.

A flash of gold hair caught his attention. _'Case in point,'_ he thought as he moved closer to listen to their conversation. _'This girl probably thinks that missing her nail appointment is a crisis.'_

"I'm telling you, Will," the blonde girl complained, "He was horrible about it. Is it in some teaching manual that you have to humiliate students every so often to keep your teacher's badge?"

"Maybe he was just having a bad day?" her redheaded friend – Will, he assumed – offered apologetically. "Have you picked another class so that you're full time, Buffy?"

"There aren't any that sound interesting. Here's the list of open classes left that the registrar's office gave me," Buffy answered, handing over a piece of paper.

Will and the other student looked over the list. "What about Russian?" the boy suggested.

Buffy stared at him like he was crazy. "Have you forgotten how bad I was at French? And Russian is like all consonants…right?" she looked at Willow for confirmation.

"I doubt they'd expect you to read War and Peace out loud on your first test," Willow shot back.

Callen thought that was the perfect opening to meet some of the non-hostile locals. "Yeah, that's more of a finals thing," he teased. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't help overhearing you talk about the Russian class. I happen to be the TA for the level 100s. It is a challenging language, I'll admit, but I found it easier to learn than French."

The three of them looked at him like he had two heads.

"Do I have something stuck in my teeth?" he asked in semi-fake embarrassment. "I'm Gregory Laclen, by the way," he said, offering them his hand in greeting. Which they took a bit warily…especially Buffy. Maybe she wasn't as free-spirited as he first thought.

He watched as they had a rapid non-verbal conversation. As crazy as that phrase sounded, it fit what they were doing.

Finally, Willow said, "Can't you just picture the shock on Giles' face if you said something to him in Russian?"

Buffy looked resigned. "I guess it's only for one semester. And it sounds better than _that_ class," she added, pointing to the paper. "I'm guessing that's English, but I can't pronounce it. Thanks for your help, TA Gregory Laclen. I'm Buffy Summers, and these are my friends, Willow Rosenburg and Oz Osbourne. Oz is just a nickname."

Callen gave them a friendly smile and said, "I'll see you in class, then, Buffy Summers."

As soon as he walked off, Willow sing-songed, "He likes you, Buffy!"

Buffy snorted. "More likely that they need to have a certain number of students in the class and they were one short."

Shaking his head, Oz pointed out, "I don't know, Buff, he specifically came over here to listen to our conversation before we started talking about Russian class."

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion, but she asked, "Isn't there a rule about that stuff?"

"If he offers you a better grade for sex, there is," Willow said. "Otherwise, I think it's just frowned on."

"I could get better grades without studying?" Buffy asked in excitement. After a few seconds, she started laughing hysterically. "Oh, the look on your face, Willow!"

"That wasn't funny," Willow pouted.

"Yeah, it was," Buffy said with a smirk.

Willow turned to her boyfriend for support. "Oz?"

He shrugged his shoulders apologetically and said, "A little bit."

* * *

**Several weeks later…**

Callen finally got the last two pieces that he needed to call in his backup to shut this shop of horrors down. He found the body of the missing Marine in a section called 314, and his latest blood test showed that he was being dosed with performance-enhancing drugs that made steroids look like cough drops.

During the course of his time in the Initiative, he experienced a few things he hadn't before. Teaching, for example, wasn't the nightmare he thought it would be – at least most of the time. There were a couple interesting, and at times, embarrassing, encounters with Buffy and her group. But he felt confident that if he needed an ally to shut the Initiative down, she'd be on his side. Thankfully her romance with Riley fizzled out pretty quick or she might side with him instead.

For the most part, he played the dutiful grunt for Dr. Frankenstein- er, Walsh. But when he came across HSTs away from his team members, he simply eliminated them instead of capturing them. For one thing, he didn't think it was a good idea to try and mix humans with these monsters. For another, he shuddered to think of what the demon community would do to the Initiative if they found out about the experiments.

* * *

**That weekend…**

As Walsh was being led out of the school in handcuffs, she glared at Callen, who she learned was the one that betrayed her and her vision for a better tomorrow. "You have no idea of what you've done!" she spit at him.

"I've saved the soldiers under your command from being guinea pigs for your drug studies," he shot back with his own venom evident.

"Good work, Mr. Callen," Hetty remarked from his side. "My friend will be relieved to have his nephew-in-law's body back. How do you think we should handle the more…unusual aspects of this assignment?"

"Classify it for the next hundred years or so," Callen replied absently as he saw Buffy and her friends coming up the sidewalk.

Hetty saw where his attention had wandered to and seemed a bit shocked. The girl looked a bit young for him. "I'll let you make your goodbyes, and then we should be heading home."

Callen went over and greeted Buffy by saying, "Спасибо за помощь." (Thanks for your help)

She smiled, thought for a moment and replied haltingly, "Благодарность для преподавания мне российской." (Thanks for teaching me Russian)

"Call if you ever need help," he said, leaning over to kiss her on the cheek. He waved goodbye to Xander, Willow and Giles, then caught up with Hetty for the ride back to LA.

"Interesting assignment this turned out to be," she remarked, clearly leading him to make a comment about the young woman he just said goodbye to.

"Yep," Callen answered laconically, knowing what she was trying to do. "Learned a few things about the world I didn't know before."

"And the girl?" Hetty persisted.

"Makes for a great ally against those things," he responded.

* * *

A/N: Man, this almost turned into a story that wouldn't fit the challenge. If I hadn't pruned it, it would have exceeded the 3000 word maximum. Translations are from Babylon online.


	4. Chapter 4: Aug 11, 2013 – I Knock You

**Chapter 4: August 11, 2013 – I Knock You For a Loop**

Chapter Summary: **The 'Betrayal' Part of the 2013 LiveJournal's Twisted Shorts FaD** series. Ted finds that it isn't so easy to get rid of Buffy.

Timeline: extended version of _'Ted'_ for BtVS; anytime during seasons 1-3 for Castle.

Challenge: for the livejournal 2013 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Warning: anti-Joyce, I suppose.

A/N: Let me know if you have any ideas for fandoms that could help Buffy when she's betrayed or ways she could be betrayed by the others.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. Castle characters belong to Andrew W. Marlowe, ABC Studios, Beacon Pictures and Experimental Pictures. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Summers home**

Buffy was pissed.

There was just no other word for what she was feeling at the moment.

For weeks, she had been telling everyone that something was off about her mom's new boyfriend, only to have them blow her off, saying that she just didn't like her mom dating again.

There were a couple problems with that theory, however. One, this wasn't the first guy her mom dated since her parents separated, and Buffy didn't have issues with the other guys. Two, none of those other guys ever threatened her like Ted did.

And he didn't just threaten her, he actually _struck_ her! The first time, it was because she was late coming home from the Bronze. The second time, it was because Snyder called to complain about something. The third time…the fourth time… Every time it happened, her mom defended him because Buffy had done something wrong and he was just disciplining her. Apparently her mom forgot that it wasn't his place to hand out punishments in the Summers house.

As long as he kept the baked goods coming, Willow and Xander didn't see the big deal either. After all, she was the Slayer, and a normal human couldn't _really_ hurt her, right?

The final straw came when Buffy found Ted in her room, reading her Slayer journal. He said he was going to convince her mom that she needed to go back to the mental institution. Now she would _have_ to act.

For a moment, she enjoyed the mental picture of beating the crap out of him before throwing him out of the house. But knowing him, he'd get her thrown in jail for assault, or possibly even attempted murder.

That left plan B.

After pushing him none-to-gently out of her room, Buffy called her dad's old college buddy. "Hey, it's Buffy. Mom's dating this real jerk and I just found him reading my _journal_," she said, emphasizing the last word so he knew the contents she was referring to. While her parents didn't believe her after Lothos, he did, but he wasn't able to keep them from locking her away. "He's going to get her to send me back there. I think he'll be able to do it, too."

She listened to him talk for a few minutes, then replied, "It's too dangerous to show her on purpose." *pause* "You think he'd back you on that lie? I've read a couple of his books and they aren't even the same kind of stories." *pause* "Okay, call me after you talk to him. And thanks, Roy."

* * *

**The next day…**

When Ted and Joyce sat Buffy down in the living room to discuss her ongoing 'delusions', Buffy just smirked at the man, knowing she had a plausible excuse for the diary now.

With a totally innocent face, Buffy said to her mom, "Didn't I tell you, Mom? I have a verbal deal with Richard Castle to write down my stories for him. He's considering doing a sci-fi series about a young girl who fights monsters. He said to write them down as if I were writing a real journal so that it would feel more authentic. The working title for the series is _'Lizzie the Demon Hunter'_."

It pleased her to see the telltale tic on Ted's face that said he was getting pissed off. To add to it, she reached in her pocket, pulled out a piece of paper and tossed it in the creep's lap. "Here's his number in New York if you'd like to check. As for the 'proof' in my trunk? Mr. Castle told me that it was important to have props from my stories so I could visualize things better."

Given the calm, sincere way Buffy explained away the diary and other things, Joyce was at a loss who she should believe. On one hand, she loved Ted and wanted to make him happy. On the other, Buffy didn't seem to believe she was this monster killer like before in LA. She took the number from Ted and called it. She recognized the area code as being from New York, so it was very unlikely that Buffy's friends could answer and pretend to be Richard Castle.

"Hello? Is this Richard Castle? My name is Joyce Summers and my daughter's name is Buffy-" she cut off when he started gushing with praise for Buffy's vivid imagination. He couldn't promise that he would write the series, but if he did, it would because of her help. Once he finished, Joyce said, "Thank you for your time and encouragement, Mr. Castle. I'm sure it means a lot to Buffy."

The fact that Joyce was leaning heavily towards Buffy's side now pushed Ted over the edge. He leapt from his chair and started beating Buffy viciously. When Joyce attempted to intervene, he threw her against the wall, knocking her out.

Fortunately, Buffy had planned for this possibility. Giles was waiting in the kitchen for sounds of a struggle and was only seconds behind Joyce in coming to her defense. Since Ted was human, their regular stash of weapons wouldn't suffice, so Giles had gone out and purchased a taser.

To their astonishment, the taser didn't knock him out…although it did cause him to glitch up like a malfunctioning computer. Buffy's eyes narrowed at that, and she used the momentary distraction to haul off and punch him. It wasn't as strong as she would hit a vampire, but it was strong enough that it would knock Giles down for the count. When it didn't do the same for Ted, she went full Slayer strength on him.

Giles was horrified at the sight of the man flying across the room, but then he saw the gash on Ted's cheek caused by the glass picture frame he flew into. It wasn't only blood and tissue, like one would expect; there were signs of machinery as well.

Recalling all too well Moloch, they quickly dismantled the human robot, and got rid of the evidence before Joyce woke up.

Just in time, too, because the police showed up just as Giles drove away with Ted's 'body'. Apparently, they got a concerned call from a police captain in New York about a man with a questionable past who was dating his college friend's ex-wife, and had threatened his goddaughter with physical harm.

Seeing signs of a struggle, as well as two battered women, the cops were more than willing to believe Buffy's story that Ted ran out the back when he heard the sirens coming.

After a brief search into Ted's life and home, they discovered several bodies of women that he had kidnapped in the past. Given the age of some of those bodies, he probably learned that behavior from his father. They told Joyce and Buffy to consider themselves fortunate that Captain Montgomery called them when he did.

* * *

A/N: I don't consider it real bashy of Joyce or the Scoobies because their behavior was altered by the drugged baked goods. With longer exposure, their feelings of trust in Ted and apathy towards Buffy's concerns would just grow stronger.


	5. Chapter 5: Aug 14, 2013 – You Pay For It

**Chapter 5: August 14, 2013 – You Pay For It**

Chapter Summary: **The 'Betrayal' Part of the 2013 LiveJournal's Twisted Shorts FaD** series. A surprise betrayal is discovered concerning Buffy's resurrection.

Timeline: _'Flooded'_ for BtVS, but with a change; pre-movie for Thor.

Challenge: for the livejournal 2013 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Warning: don't want to give it away in the author's note, but it's not anti-the person you'd expect.

A/N: Let me know if you have any ideas for fandoms that could help Buffy when she's betrayed or ways she could be betrayed by the others.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. Thor characters are from the 2011 movie version and belong to J. Michael Straczynski, Mark Protosevich, Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby and Marvel Comics. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Summers kitchen**

Giles was just getting started on his rant about the dangerous magicks Willow invoked to resurrect Buffy when he realized there was a more pressing concern. "Why didn't you check where Buffy was before you did this?" he shouted at her. "After the funeral, when Dawn started having nightmares about Buffy being in hell, I did so I could set her mind at ease."

"Why didn't you tell _us_?" Willow shot back.

He bit his tongue to keep from replying that he would have, if he'd known they would try something like this. When he felt in control of himself, he said, "You four seemed to be coping with her death, and I didn't want to re-open that wound for you."

She still thought he should have said something earlier, but at the moment, she just wanted to defend herself. "But I did look for a spell like that and couldn't find one. My thought was that it would be easier to rescue her if we knew exactly where she was," she explained.

"It's in the Gepisert Tome, right after the spell to remove a cursed finger," Giles replied, starting to calm down a little. At least it sounded like she had tried to research before she did the spell.

Willow looked confused at his answer. "I know I've seen the Gepisert before, but it wasn't in the shop when I was researching this."

"That's odd," Giles commented as he removed his glasses to polish them – a sure sign that he was deep in thought. "I distinctly recall seeing it behind the counter when I was preparing to leave for England."

"Behind the counter?" Willow repeated. "But why would it be there? Anya _never_ keeps books behind the counter."

His look changed from thoughtful to calculating as his mind started to go to a place he didn't want it to go. "You're right. She doesn't like anything that clutters up her 'money receiving' space. Perhaps we should have a word with Anya about this." As they started to leave the house, he added, "Don't think this lets you off the hook for performing such a dangerous spell without telling me first, though."

* * *

**Magic Box**

Giles had the four spell participants gathered in the training room to discuss his suspicions. He didn't see Buffy standing in the shadows, listening to their talk. Once everyone was seated, he turned to Anya and pinned her with an interrogative stare. "Why did you put the Gepisert Tome behind the counter, Anya?"

Sighing, Anya knew she had been found out. Oh well, it didn't matter now that Buffy was back. "This is about the soul location spell, right? I should have guessed that you did it without telling us the results. That's very inconsiderate of you, Giles."

"Inconsiderate?!" Giles shouted. "You willfully pull Buffy from her well-deserved rest, and then have the nerve to say_ I'm_ inconsiderate?!"

Xander looked around at the group: Giles' infuriated face, Willow's guilty-enough-to-bake-cookies one, and Tara's paling expression. Then Giles' words sunk in…'well-deserved rest'. Oh god! "Tell me you didn't, Ahn…please!" he begged his secret fiancée.

She looked offended that everyone was ganging up on her. "Hey, this isn't all on me, you know. Willow was the one who decided to bring Buffy back. If she didn't, it wouldn't have mattered that I hid the book," she snapped defensively.

Angry at what Anya allowed her to do, Willow retorted, "But you knew that I was looking for a way to rescue her. Why didn't you let me find out that she didn't need saving?"

"Because we needed a Slayer. We can't protect the Hellmouth without one – as you all know. Besides, as long as everyone was sad about her death, Xander wouldn't tell anyone about us getting married. I knew that you didn't mind saving her, but if she happened to be in a good place, you'd leave her there, so I removed the temptation not to bring her back by hiding the location spell."

Giles visibly had to calm himself down before he summarized her reasoning, "Let me see if I have this straight…you were willing to risk pulling Buffy from her rest just so you could announce your bloody engagement?!" he screamed.

Anya shot him a look of annoyance, like he was deliberately misunderstanding her or something. "And we needed a Slayer! Sooner or later, we would have died trying to keep the demons from taking over, and that's her job, not ours."

"Which she's done…twice," Xander whispered, feeling sick to his stomach. This was the woman he was going to marry? Okay, he knew she was quirky, but he never thought she could be this selfish…except for when she wanted to run away before the Mayor's ascension with him…or the other times she tried to get him to leave Sunnydale with her. Maybe he was just confusing affection and sexual attraction for real love. Or maybe she was incapable of love after so many years as a demon.

"I have heard enough," a disembodied voice boomed, just before a tall man in ancient armor appeared.

The only people who recognized him immediately were Anya and Buffy. One stared at him in fear, the other in longing.

"Odin!" Anya gasped, falling off her seat and kneeling before him.

"All-Father," Buffy whispered from her hiding spot with tears streaking down her face.

The King of Asgard nodded slightly in Buffy's direction to indicate to her that he heard her before he fixed his fiercest gaze on Anya. "By your selfish actions, my daughter was stolen from her Odinsleep before she was completely healed. You show no remorse, even when told she was at rest. For this treachery, I banish you to Niflheim, the Mist World."

Anya barely had the time to scream, "No!" before he pointed his scepter towards her and she vanished from the room.

"Where did you send her?" Xander demanded. Despite being revolted by her actions and unsure of his true feelings towards her, he still felt the need to defend Anya.

"To the place she belongs, Midgardian," Odin replied. "Come, daughter…come out of the shadows and into the light where you belong."

"How do I know that you are the All-Father?" Buffy asked as she stumbled across the room and into his embrace.

"All my daughters – those whom you know as Slayers – recognize me when in my presence," Odin explained to the group. "My last direct contact with Midgard was to appoint your line to protect the realm from the demons of Muspelheim. When your spirit is released in this realm, you come home to Asgard for a time of Odinsleep. Then you join your sisters in Valhalla as one of my Valkyries."

"What is going to happen to Buffy now, King Odin?" Giles inquired.

Odin spared Buffy a momentary glance of affection before he replied, "That is up to her. She needs to complete her time in Odinsleep, but once that is done, she may choose to come back here to her Midgardian family or go onto Valhalla."

* * *

A/N: Bet I surprised a lot of you by not making Willow the bad guy in this story, huh?


	6. Chapter 6: Aug 17, 2013 – But Not Deep

**Chapter 6: August 17, 2013 – But Not Deep Enough**

Chapter Summary: **The 'Betrayal' Part of the 2013 LiveJournal's Twisted Shorts FaD** series. Just as Angel is about to complete his enthrallment of Buffy, somebody comes along to stop him.

Timeline: season two _'Surprise'_ for BtVS; post-series for HP.

Challenge: for the livejournal 2013 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Warning: anti-Angel. Seriously, Angel fans shouldn't read this. He's AU in this. Character death.

A/N: Let me know if you have any ideas for fandoms that could help Buffy when she's betrayed or ways she could be betrayed by the others.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Angel's apartment**

Looking over at Buffy and seeing her so vulnerable, Angel could feel his plan nearing its completion…finally. If he could just get her to offer him her virginity without any coercion, then his control over her would be solid. After that, he could get her to do whatever he wanted – even if that meant killing her family and friends.

While he wasn't Angelus anymore, Angel could still be a bastard when he wanted to be. And for the prize of a Slayer at his command? He wanted to be.

His time in Sunnydale didn't start with that goal, though. When Whistler approached him all those months ago with the offer of redemption, Angel wanted it. Helping a beautiful girl to get it didn't sound all that bad, either.

Except for when she decided to face the Master after all…stupid girl. If it wasn't for _that_ _boy_, Xander, shoving a cross in his face – as well as catching a reflection of Whistler in a nearby shiny surface, reminding him of his 'mission' – he wouldn't have put himself at risk. Why should he? Redemption wasn't any use if he wasn't around to enjoy it.

"You almost went away today," Buffy said in a choked voice.

Perfect! All he had to do now was gently steer the conversation. " We both did," he pointed out with his patented soulful look in case she turned to face him. Just a little bit more…

Buffy sobbed a bit, then said, "Angel... I feel like I lost you... You're right, though. We can't be sure of anything."

That's it, little fishy…nice juicy bait. Now for a little extra so she'd ignore the hook. "Shhh. I..." he trailed off, seemingly debating with himself about whether he should continue.

He got her to turn and look at him.

"You what?" she prompted hopefully.

Time for the big guns. "I love you. I try not to, but I can't stop," Angel 'confessed'. He knew how to manipulate teenaged girls to get into their pants, and even though Buffy was a mystical warrior, she was still a teenage girl.

Before Buffy could return the sentiment, a loud crack was heard in the other room. Since she was on the bed, Angel was closer to the intruder, which worked out perfectly because the intruder was after him, not her.

"Stupefy!" a girlish voice cried out. Then a red light hit Angel and knocked him to the ground. "Incarcerous!" With that command, ropes bound him.

Buffy moved to attack the person when she was hit with "Immobulus!"

While she couldn't move, Buffy was still aware of her surroundings so she saw a young girl, probably not much older than herself, standing in Angel's living room. The girl was blonde, slender, holding a shaped stick and wearing radishes on her ears?

"I'm sorry for hitting you with that spell, but I couldn't have you trying to save him," the girl apologized. "My name is Luna Lovegood, and I'm here to rescue you."

With another slight flick of her stick, Buffy's ability to speak came back. "You're a little late for that. Spike and Dru already got the Judge's arm and probably are assembling him as we speak," she snapped as she fought against the force holding her in place.

"Oh nargles!" Luna cursed. "I knew I forgot something!" She reached into her pocket and pulled out a compact and spoke into it, "Harry. Harry, can you pop over to the factory and set some vampires on fire for me? I was in such a hurry that I forgot about them assembling the Judge. If he's in one piece, you'll have to dismember him again. But don't get too close or he'll suck out your humanity and kill you."

She snapped the compact shut and looked at Buffy again. "Thanks for reminding me. When I get one of my visions, parts of it don't seem as important as others."

"And stopping me from telling Angel that I love him was worse than the Judge being reassembled?" Buffy demanded incredulously. She was starting to calm down a tiny bit. Partially because the girl hadn't attempted to hurt them yet, but also because she wasn't able to move and it felt like wasted energy to keep trying.

Luna thought for a moment, then nodded. "Well, yeah. It's not as if you couldn't find a way to defeat the Judge sooner or later, but allowing a vampire with Angelus' reputation to have control over you – a Slayer? That could be catastrophic. And yes, I know he has a soul now, but I've known some people with souls who were still monsters, so that doesn't give him automatic trust in my book."

"What do you mean, control over me?" Buffy asked.

"I'll let him tell you himself," Luna decided. "You wouldn't believe me anyway." She pulled out a vial from her pocket, opened it and poured it down Angel's throat. "Rennervate!" she said, pointing her stick at him.

"What is your name?" she started the interrogation.

"My human name was Liam O'Connor. Then I became Angelus, Scourge of Europe, then with my soul, I became Angel."

"What is your plan for Buffy?" Luna went on.

"To give her the marks of enthrallment so she belongs to me," he replied.

"What does that mean?" Luna asked, knowing that Buffy needed to hear this.

"That she is mine to command. Whatever I want from her, she'll give me…even her life to save mine. There is no order that I give her that she won't obey."

A sob from Buffy told Luna that she had broken the beginning threads Angel had woven over her.

"Did you ever love me?" Buffy wanted to know.

"I would have loved to take your virginity." His cold answer made Buffy feel like she was going to be sick.

Apparently Luna figured that out because she released the spell on Buffy and conjured a bucket for her.

Another person popped in, silently this time. "Were you ever genuine about wanting redemption?" Whistler inquired, sorely disappointed in this wretched excuse of a potential Champion.

"Until I figured out that I could get Buffy to be my human servant," Angel answered against his will. "Then redemption sounded like too much effort."

Whistler turned to Buffy, who was crying over the bucket in her hands, and apologized, "Sorry for this, Slayer. I thought he would help you. Whatever you decide to do, the Powers That Be won't interfere. He doesn't get another second chance with them." He laid a comforting hand on her shoulder, glared at Angel, and popped back out of the room.

"Do you want me to do this?" Luna offered. Knowing that the person she loved was using her, and being willing to put a stake through his heart were two different things. Buffy might not be able to give him the punishment he so richly deserved…not to mention the havoc that would have erupted if the two had consummated their relationship.

Angel thought he knew what was going to happen, but he didn't plan on the curse the gypsies put on him having a loophole. A moment of perfect happiness – in this case his feeling of triumph in mastering a Slayer – and he would lose his soul again.

The duo of Angelus and his pet Slayer would be an act of devastation for humanity. Thousands upon thousands would die before they could be stopped.

"Please," Buffy croaked, unable to articulate what she was pleading for.

Luna knew anyway and cast one last spell on Angel. "Incendio!"

Although she wasn't a fan of the spell, Luna thought maybe in this case, it would be less traumatic for the Slayer if she believed Angel died a heroic death in order to stop the Judge. She pulled out her compact again and called, "Harry. You done? Thanks."

Pointing her wand at Buffy, she prepared the false memory that she would use to replace this one. "Obliviate!"

Once she was alone again, Buffy started sobbing hysterically on Angel's bed. Her life was destroyed, even if the Judge was stopped.

* * *

A/N: Luna was probably a little OOC here, but maybe by the end of the war, she learned to curb her oddness. I just really wanted her to be Buffy's hero. Strange that I ended it so sadly. Wouldn't have thought Musie would go that way with Luna in the story.


	7. Chapter 7: Aug 20, 2013 – Accidentally

**Chapter 7: August 20, 2013 – Accidentally**

Chapter Summary: **The 'Betrayal' Part of the 2013 LiveJournal's Twisted Shorts FaD** series. In an AU _'Teacher's Pet'_, unintentional betrayal costs more than anyone can imagine.

Timeline: obviously season 1 _'Teacher's Pet'_, but with a slight alteration that has tragic results; post-movie for The Avengers.

Challenge: for the livejournal 2013 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Warning: ugly section at the beginning, but not high on the gore factor.

A/N: Let me know if you have any ideas for fandoms that could help Buffy when she's betrayed or ways she could be betrayed by the others.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. The Avengers are from Marvel Comics (using the 2012 movie version). I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Ms. French's house (the fake one)**

Xander whistled to himself as he walked up to his teacher's door. Things were pretty cool lately. Not only did a smokin' hot teacher want to spend some time alone with him, but Buffy was actually jealous of that fact. Why she couldn't figure out her feelings before Ms. French came along, he didn't know, but that was her problem, not his.

When he got to the door, though, he heard sounds of a scuffle inside. He considered his options for a couple seconds. On the one hand, he wasn't a great fighter; on the other…if something happened to his teacher and he didn't even _try_ to stop it, he'd hate himself. Fortunately the door was unlocked, so he didn't have to break it down.

What he saw inside floored him. Ms. French's attacker was Buffy! He rushed over to try and pull her away, but the Slayer kept spouting that nonsense about giant bugs. Looking down at the battered woman, he locked eyes with her, then felt a rush of warmth over his body.

He decided that if Buffy wasn't going to be rational about this, he'd do what was necessary to defend his mate- er, teacher. He picked up a lamp and brought it down on his friend's head as hard as he could, hoping it would be enough to knock her out.

As he got closer to Ms. French to help her up, he was overwhelmed by the smell of bug spray that covered her. At least he _thought_ it was bug spray. Geez, Buff really was taking this crazy theory of hers too far. He raced to get some towels after Ms. French requested them. It didn't occur to him to ask why she couldn't get them until it was too late.

Once enough of the spray had been wiped away, the craziest thing happened. She changed from a hottie to a…well, giant bug. Xander _really_ hoped it was just the spray causing hallucinations.

Unfortunately, if it was a hallucination, it was a pretty gruesome one, 'cause the next thing the bug woman did was grab an unconscious Buffy with her claws. He could almost swear that the thing was smiling as it used its claw to cut Buffy's right arm off. Before it could do the same thing to her left arm, a horrible screeching sound filled the room.

Buffy fell to the ground while the bug creature started spazzing out. Giles rushed forward with a machete and hacked the thing to pieces. Meanwhile, Willow raced to Buffy's side to try and stop the bleeding. In shock, Xander stood there, staring blankly at nothing.

* * *

**Hospital**

Somehow, they got to the hospital, but Xander didn't remember how, or why the paramedics didn't ask about the giant bug parts next to Buffy's body while they worked to keep her alive.

Dimly, he heard Willow asking if they should call Buffy's mother, but Giles answered that he had a special medical form that the Council gave to its Watchers so they could get their Slayers or Potentials treatment. Technically speaking, it wouldn't hold up in a court of law against Joyce's rights, but there wasn't time to worry about that at the moment.

The doctors looked Xander over as a precaution, but said he was only in shock. Their best guess was that he witnessed the attack and was having trouble processing it.

What felt like seconds or days later – he wasn't sure which – the doctor came out to talk to them about Buffy. Between the blood loss and shock of sudden amputation, she died momentarily while in surgery, but they were able to resuscitate her and stabilize her. The next 48 hours would be the most critical.

Since Giles was the one with the paper, he was allowed to see Buffy for a couple minutes. Xander and Willow had to wait in the lounge though.

Later, Giles staggered back into the room and collapsed next to Willow. She asked what was wrong, and he said he called the Council to let them know about Buffy's condition. They told him that she wasn't his concern anymore because a new Slayer had been Called; apparently the few minutes she was dead was long enough for it to happen. The new girl would be there within a week with her own Watcher. Once they were settled, Giles was to return to England immediately.

Even if Buffy had somehow managed to maintain her Slayer abilities after her death – something the Council couldn't see happening – they felt that a handicapped Slayer was a liability and bound to die quickly. As long as the Hellmouth had a healthy Slayer to protect it, Buffy didn't matter anymore.

Willow wanted to know if Buffy was in danger from the Master or his minions, or if he would be focused on the new Slayer. Giles sadly admitted that they had never come across any records of a Slayer who died and came back. His educated guess, however, was that as long as she stayed in Sunnydale or LA, any demons and vampires who knew her by sight would come after her.

It was that realization that caused the Watcher to rebel at the idea of leaving his Slayer helpless. After several minutes of talking to himself, Giles whispered to Willow that they had a chance to help Buffy, but first they'd have to fake her death so her mother wouldn't go looking for her. He knew somebody who might take Buffy away…maybe. It was son of somebody he had saved once upon a time.

He got up to call this mysterious friend, and moments later came back with a look of relief on his face. The man's son decided to honor the 'debt' that his father owed Giles. They were on their way, and even had a way to fake Buffy's death without risk to her. It would take a few hours to get there, so if Willow and Xander wanted a chance to say goodbye, now was the time to say it. He would go back to his apartment and wait for the man and his associate(s).

* * *

**Shortly after…**

Willow hacked into the security system to erase any evidence of Giles approving Buffy's treatment. That way nobody could blame him later when she 'died'.

Joyce got to the hospital within minutes of the surgery being finished – since that was when the hospital found her contact information. She listened in horror as the doctor explained about how Buffy's right arm had been amputated and that she had died on the operating table while they tried to repair the damage caused by the unusual amputation.

He warned Joyce that the next 48 hours were critical. If Buffy got through those two days with no further problems, her chances of survival improved a great deal. That made the lie Giles' planned easier to execute. Since she was intellectually prepared for the possibility, Buffy's death wouldn't come as a total shock.

After the visiting hours were over, Willow dragged Xander to Giles' apartment. Since her best friend was still semi-catatonic, she wasn't sure what to do with him. In the end, she figured it would be safer to keep him with her, so she called his parents and said he was sleeping over at her house. She was afraid that if she left him alone, he might wander out of his house and become a vamp snack.

* * *

**Giles' apartment**

Giles was already talking to somebody when they got there. Willow took one look at the man and started stuttering, "Tony Stark! Giles…that's Tony Stark!"

"I'm well aware of that fact, Willow," Giles remarked. "His companion is retrieving Buffy as we speak. During the shift change, he'll create a trail that indicates she died and was taken to the morgue, where he will substitute her body for an unclaimed one. That body will be cremated immediately per written instructions," he explained, hoping things would go off as planned.

"What about Buffy?" Willow asked sadly.

"I'll take her back East with me. Once she's recovered enough, we'll get her fixed up with a prosthetic arm. Don't worry, it will be top of the line and will look natural. She'll be as good as the day she was born," Tony promised.

Giles and Willow shared a look with an unasked question between them: _Would she be as good as she was yesterday?_

Clearing his throat, Giles informed Willow – and presumably Xander, "I will pack up my belongings and make plans to follow Buffy to Mr. Stark's. When she recovers, we will talk about whether she wants to inform her parents about her survival, or if she's afraid that the group responsible will come after her again."

"You know, Mr. Giles," Tony interjected, "If she and her family need protection, I do have some superhero-ish friends that could help. We _did_ just save the world from an alien invasion."

"Perhaps you would be able to understand after all," Giles replied with a speculative look. "Did your father ever explain to you what I saved him from?"

Tony appeared perplexed by the apparent non sequiter. "No, just that if I ever had a strange encounter that science couldn't explain, that I should contact you for help. And to give you help if you ever needed it, no matter what it was," he added, explaining why he'd go along with what amounted to kidnapping a young girl from her mother. He also looked offended at the very idea that there would be something that science couldn't explain.

"Give him the speech," Willow suggested.

Giles nodded, poured Tony a tall glass of single malt and began, "The world is older than we know…"

* * *

A/N: Originally this was going to be a Batman cross, but then I figured that it sounded more like a Tony Stark-type problem to fix. That, and apparently I'm on a Marvel kick this month.


	8. Chapter 8: Aug 23, 2013 - I'll Leave You

**Chapter 8: August 23, 2013 – I'll Leave You**

Chapter Summary: **The 'Betrayal' Part of the 2013 LiveJournal's Twisted Shorts FaD** series. Buffy isn't willing to forgive and forget Willow's forgetting spell.

Timeline: _Tabula Rasa'_ for BtVS; season 1 for GG. Not concerned about BtVS canon after that episode.

Challenge: for the livejournal 2013 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Warning: anti-mostly Giles and Willow, because in that episode, they were the ones who pissed me off the most.

A/N: Let me know if you have any ideas for fandoms that could help Buffy when she's betrayed or ways she could be betrayed by the others.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. Gilmore Girls characters belong to WB and Amy Sherman Palladino. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Magic Box**

**Shortly after the spell lifted…**

Rather than go to the Bronze like she wanted to, Buffy felt she had to head back to the Magic Box and announce her decision immediately…before she had a chance to change her mind. There was no doubt in her mind who or what was responsible for her temporary memory loss. This had the trademark feel of a Willow-spell gone wrong – or at least she hoped this wasn't the intended ending of it.

The only question was how big of a tantrum would Dawn throw over it?

"Good, I'm glad everybody is still here," Buffy said as soon as she came in the door and saw everybody but Spike in the store. She'd deal with him later. "I have an announcement, and it probably is important to all of you." She moved over to Dawn's side and grabbed her hand, shocking the younger Summers at the show of any kind of non-spell-induced affection.

Taking a deep breath, Buffy started, "Tonight has showed me that Sunnydale isn't safe for me and Dawn anymore." She held up a hand to stop the protests. "Intellectually, I was willing to forgive you for bringing me back because you thought you were saving me – even though emotionally, I felt like ripping your arms off and beating you to death with them. That's why I didn't say anything earlier about where I really was, except to Spike. But this…if I can't trust the people who are supposed to be my friends not to endanger me and Dawn, I can't stay here."

Buffy ignored the others and explained further to Dawn, "Dawnie, I'm barely hanging on by a thread as it is. Call it selfish of me, but right now, getting back to who I was before and taking care of you is more important than being the Slayer on the Hellmouth. If they need one here, they can always get Faith out of jail; I'm sure she's willing to break out if we told her we were leaving."

Dawn swallowed her initial reaction to scream that Buffy was ruining her life, but then she thought about everything, starting with how she felt after Buffy died. If Buffy was feeling even half of what she felt, it made sense that being in Sunnydale was hurting her too much to stay. She only stayed because she wasn't willing to give up the family she had in the others; and she didn't want to leave the Bot, even though it was a pale imitation of her real sister. "Where will we go?" she finally asked.

"Remember that family home that Mom mentioned to us when we were younger? I thought we'd go there and try to start over," Buffy answered, sounding more tired than Dawn had ever heard her – even when she was sick with the killer flu.

Going with her second impulse, she grabbed Buffy for a hug and said, "Okay, I'm in."

The room erupted with her announcement.

"Dawnie, don't you think we should talk about this?" Willow asked. She had counted on Dawn saying absolutely not when Buffy said she was leaving. If Dawn went, they had no leverage to keep Buffy there – except for her duty as a Slayer, which she easily anticipated by saying Faith could do it.

"You mean like we talked about the spell to bring Buffy back?" Dawn shot back, her disdain almost dripping from her mouth.

"That was different," Xander objected. "We didn't tell you because we didn't want to get your hopes up in case it didn't work."

"Still doesn't change the fact that this is a Summers matter, and if Buffy says we need to get away for our sakes, then I won't fight her…because we're going together. If she tried to send just me away, it'd be a different story," Dawn added, just in case Buffy was considering it.

Giles looked at Buffy disappointingly. "Is this an attempt to get me to stay?"

"Uhh, no," Buffy replied. "You're free to live your life, just like Dawn and I are free to live ours. We just aren't going as far as you to do it."

"Just because I told you to stand on your own two feet-" he tried to reprimand her.

"Wait!" Dawn interrupted. "You're leaving because Buffy depended on you to help her too much, and now that she's making her own choices, you think you have the right to object because it isn't something you like? I love you, Giles, but you have a lot of nerve! She's putting me before slaying, not switching sides to become evil."

She turned to glare at everyone else in the room. "If that's all you have, we're going home to get ready to move. C'mon, Buffy!" Dawn ordered, pulling on Buffy's hand.

Buffy allowed her to drag her out of the store, but decided to say one last thing, "Couldn't have said it any better than Dawn. Oh, Willow and Tara? I'm putting the house up for sale, so you should find another place to stay, too. We'll call once we're settled in Connecticut."

* * *

**On the road**

**A few weeks later…**

During the time that it took Buffy and Dawn to pack up the stuff they wanted to keep and sell the stuff they didn't, they had to fend off more attempts to change their minds. Even as they were getting into the Jeep, the Scoobies – minus Tara, who had broken up with Willow – were attempting emotional blackmail on them, reminding her that none of them trusted Faith to protect the Hellmouth.

"Well, you'd better learn to, then," was all Buffy would say as she closed the door and started up the engine.

Hank had come through with some back child support, and even though he didn't understand why they had to move during the school year, he offered to help with expenses until they could get set up in Connecticut. Not that he wasn't playing to continue his normal child support payments, but this would be in addition to that money.

To give themselves a little time to reconnect with each other before having to deal with other people on a regular basis, Buffy and Dawn took the scenic route to the East Coast. They talked about a lot of things, like Dawn's stealing and her insecurity about her place in Buffy's life. And they talked about the rules of their life in a place that didn't have preset expectations of them.

One thing Buffy knew was that she would have to get a job once they got to Stars Hollow, but she had very few marketable skills…unless she wanted to hire herself out as an assassin…which she _sooo_ didn't.

It was a stop in Phoenix that gave them a glimmer of an idea for a possible career for Buffy. On the weekend before Thanksgiving, they came across a Renfaire called the Phoenix Faerie Festival. They had a good laugh at what people considered supernatural, but as they kept driving eastward, they realized it was a place that Buffy could fit in with her knowledge of medieval weapons.

They didn't even have to veer out of their way to hit another Renfaire in Springfield, Missouri called Barataria Faire. There the idea grew more appealing to them. By the time they got to the Dickens Victorian Village in Cambridge, Ohio, they were fully hooked on the plan. Dawn started buying books about the community of people who participated in Renfaires.

They played games while driving to learn about the culture, and Dawn taught Buffy Renfaire insults to yell at the other drivers when they ticked her off. They'd still have a lot to learn, but they had a bit of a foundation to start with when they contacted the local group closest to Stars Hollow.

Although it would seem odd – and very dirty – Buffy decided that the best choice of profession for her would be a blacksmith. Assuming she could learn to forge decent weapons, her being a female 'smith could make her unique enough to be popular on the circuit. She certainly didn't have to worry about having the physical strength to do the work.

So Dawn added books about smithing to their growing library.

To their joint surprise, Buffy took to the theoretical aspects like a duck to water. Dawn theorized that maybe it was because smithing was closely tied to weapons and Slayers needed to know all about weapons. It wasn't instinctual like using weapons, but Buffy looked forward to finding out if creating them would come easy to her, too.

* * *

**Stars Hollow**

Eventually, the sisters arrived at their destination. "Looks quaint," Buffy remarked as they drove down what must have been the Main Street – or one of them, anyway.

Dawn agreed, but replied a bit pessimistically, "Hope 'quaint' isn't a euphemism for Hellmouth." She especially hoped for that since Buffy seemed to get better every mile they drove away from their past Hellmouth.

To the point where it was Buffy who was able to be relaxed about the possibility of a new Hellmouth in their future. "We'll find out sooner or later, so no need worrying about it just yet." They got to what felt like the heart of the town, and she pointed to two signs almost next door to each other. "Should we hit the grocery store first or the hardware store?"

"Since we don't know what we need to fix up the place, I say we get food first," Dawn answered. "Besides, I'm not entirely convinced that's a hardware store…despite the sign over the door. It has diner signs on the sides of the building."

"Maybe it's a combo store? Kind of a strange combo, but maybe it's an East Coast thing," Buffy said before reminding her sister, "We also don't know what – if any – appliances we have at the house."

"Sandwich stuff, then?" Dawn countered.

Buffy nodded as she parked near the store called Doose's Market. "Sounds like a plan."

They barely got through the door when two women descended on them. "Aren't you two just the more adorable things!" the short, blonde one rasped.

The woman with reddish hair spoke before they could reply to the compliment, "Are you just visiting or planning to stay for a while? We heard there were some people coming to re-open the old Allerton Place."

Buffy had a flashback to her first day at Sunnydale when Willow, Jesse and Xander peppered her with questions about her life. She hoped that wasn't a sign of things to come. "Um, stay…at the Allerton Place," she confirmed the rumor that apparently already spread through their new hometown.

"Oh, the young men in town will be so pleased to hear that!" the second woman gushed, then offered her hand in greeting, "I'm Miss Patty, and I own the dance studio in town. And you, my dear, have the legs of a ballerina!" she told Dawn. "You must come to my class!"

Other than the mind-numbing terror of being kidnapped by Sweet's minions, Dawn actually sort of enjoyed the dance she did at the Bronze. "Buffy?" she asked hopefully.

Shrugging, Buffy replied, "It'd be good to help you with your balance."

The blonde woman didn't want to wait any longer to announce herself, so she cut in, "And I'm Babette."

Buffy finally caught the hint and introduced herself and Dawn, "Buffy and Dawn Summers."

Their conversation drew the attention of several other people, but only one came over to add to it. "If you're planning to stay at the Allerton Place, you should get a room at the Independence Inn while you fix it up. It's been a long time before anyone has lived there," the man informed them. "I'm Taylor Doose of Doose's Market."

"You should get Tom to fix up the place for you," Babette rasped. "Oh, the muscles on that man!"

Buffy and Dawn shared a look. What kind of crazy town did they move to? Even without a Hellmouth, this might end up being a stranger place than Sunnydale.

"I think I saw Lorelai and Tom over at Luke's," Miss Patty offered helpfully. "She runs the Independence," she added for the sake of the sisters. Then she proceeded to herd them back out the door and down the street to Luke's.

"There's Lorelai, flirting again with Luke – even if they won't admit it," said Babette. "Oh, Lorelai!" she called out, "Got a couple customers for you!"

"We'll go keep Tom occupied until you're done with Lorelai," Miss Patty told them.

Dawn whispered to Buffy, "Do you feel sorry for this Tom guy, too?"

Snorting, Buffy answered, "Only if he isn't as crazy as them."

They walked over to the counter to ask about a room at the Inn.

"Hey there! I'm Lorelai Gilmore, the executive manager of the Independence Inn, which I'm sure the ladies told you. Or did they just kidnap you off the streets?" she asked teasingly.

"Actually, it was Doose's Market," Dawn replied absent-mindedly as she stared longingly at the baked goods on display.

"Go ahead and order something," Buffy said. "Please keep it normal-ish."

Dawn pouted and asked, "Is apple pie normal enough for you?"

"And…?" Buffy prompted; she knew that wouldn't be the only thing.

"Oh my god, it's like a second version of you and Rory!" the man behind the counter – Luke presumably – complained to Lorelai.

"Fine!" Dawn huffed, ignoring the comment by Luke, "And salsa."

"Oh geez!" Luke muttered.

Lorelai looked intrigued by the combination, though. However, she had more pressing concerns at the moment. "Doose's? They actually kidnapped you at Doose's?"

"Sort of, but not really," Buffy assured her. "They found out we're moving into the Allerton Place and Mr. Doose suggested that we stay at your Inn while it's fixed up by Tom over there," she added, pointing to the table where Tom was fending off the attentions of Miss Patty and Babette.

"Don't call him that! He'll start insisting that everyone should," Luke interjected. "Just call him Taylor."

Lorelai appeared thoughtful during his interruption. It shocked her that she would consider suggesting this, but these girls reminded her so much of herself and Rory, that she had to at least offer. "I'm guessing that you're kind of on a budget?" she gently probed. "A room at the Inn for the amount of time that it probably would take to get your home livable again would probably break that budget. If you don't mind quirky, I have an alternative for you. My daughter and I lived there for several years before we moved into our home, although she was a lot younger and didn't take up as much space."

"You're offering them the Shed?" Luke asked in disbelief.

Before Buffy could ask if she should be relieved or offended, Lorelai answered him, "Like you said, they're like a second me and Rory. I rather let them live there than use it as a potting shed again." She saw the horrified looks on Buffy and Dawn's faces and quickly assured them, "It's been renovated since then. It's not fancy, but it's livable until you can get into your place."

"I guess we can look at it," Buffy finally said. Even though Hank was helping out, she still didn't want to incur too many expenses that she would feel obligated to pay back. Speaking of which, she'd better go rescue Tom and find out how much the house would cost her. "I'll find my way to the Inn after I talk to Tom, okay?"

Either Tom had a rare free day or he was desperate to escape from Miss Patty and Babette flirting with him because he was more than willing to head out to the house right away with Buffy and Dawn.

After a quick glance at it, Tom commended the person/people who locked it up because there was very minimal damage inside the building. They just had to clean the layers of dust off the floors and walls; the furniture was covered with sheets to protect it. The majority of the exterior work was cosmetic and wouldn't take much time to finish.

"Unless something surprises me, I should done within a month or so. Some of the stuff should wait until spring, though," Tom concluded.

"I have sort of an odd request that doesn't have to be done right away," Buffy said, having decided that she'd give the blacksmith thing a try. "Would you be able to put in a blacksmith shop in the yard?"

Tom did a double-take at the request, then shook his head and murmured, "You'll fit right in in Stars Hollow."

* * *

A/N: I got the idea of the Renfaire from Luke's sister, Liz and her husband, TJ. I know they didn't show up until later on in the show, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity.


	9. Chapter 9: Aug 26, 2013 – By Dismissing

**Chapter 9: August 26, 2013 – By Dismissing Me**

Chapter Summary: **The 'Betrayal' Part of the 2013 LiveJournal's Twisted Shorts FaD** series. If only they had believed her about her demon roommate…

Timeline: _'Living Conditions'_ for BtVS; end of CoS for HP.

Challenge: for the livejournal 2013 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Warning: a touch darker than usual.

A/N: Let me know if you have any ideas for fandoms that could help Buffy when she's betrayed or ways she could be betrayed by the others.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. Harry Potter characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Stevenson Hall**

Buffy was having that nightmare again – the one that made her feel so tired and irritable when she woke up. Little did she know that wouldn't be a problem for her anymore.

The demon known as Kathy could feel the Taparrich getting closer, so she dropped all pretenses and sucked on Buffy's soul as if her life depended on it. Which it did, in her opinion. She just crawled back in her bed when the door opened, so she covered herself to make it appear like she was trying to fall asleep.

She didn't have to worry about the Taparrich's reaction to her anymore. He sensed two beings in the room and immediately disregarded the one with a soul. He was here for the soulless one. However, when he went to that one, he noticed it wasn't the Runaway he had been chasing. This soulless being was a human being…for a little while longer. Since the Runaway had been successful in her endeavor for a human soul, he had one last job to do before reporting the Runaway was now Lost.

Mok'tagar demons are different in that they don't like to leave evidence of their victims for the local populations to find – in this case, humans. Luckily, this dimension had a disposal site for the victims where magical humans housed and fed them. If Taparrich cared about humans, he would tell them they were risking their lives by doing that, but he didn't care, so he took advantage of having a convenient place to dispose of the Runaway's victim.

* * *

**Over the next few days…**

Although Buffy would never know that she was right about her roommate, her friends found out the hard way. Kathy tried to lie to them about her running away, but her story fell apart quickly when Angel showed up to tell them about a vision Doyle had about Buffy being destroyed by Celine Dion. Doyle thought that was probably figurative because of the vagueness of his visions, though.

With Angel's help, they subdued her and asked her what happened to Buffy. When she realized she wasn't getting out of her situation alive, she decided to spread a little misery by telling them, "I wonder what this will do to the Slayer line since she isn't technically dead. Oh yes, I knew she was a Slayer after the first taste of her soul," she added gleefully when they looked shocked that she knew who Buffy was to the demon community.

"What do you mean she isn't technically dead?" Giles demanded to know.

"When I sucked out her soul, I changed what she was. Ever race reacts differently to what we do to them. Humans turn into a twisted version of us," Kathy chirpily informed them. She didn't last much longer than that before Angel took her head off.

* * *

**Elsewhere**

As the change took place, the last thoughts of the former Buffy Summers imprinted on the creature she became. She had one goal in life, and that was to destroy evil.

"Report!" DMLE Head Amelia Bones barked when she arrived on the scene.

The least-shaken Auror stepped forward to say, "A Dementor went rogue, and killed almost the entire population of prisoners, as well as a couple of the guards. Then it turned on the other Dementors and destroyed them. The strange thing was that they lined up for it – almost like they _wanted_ to be destroyed."

"Why didn't you use your Patroni on it?" Madame Bones demanded.

"We did!" the Auror insisted. "It seemed to hurt it for a little bit, but it kept going despite it."

"That'll cause a panic if the public finds out," Bones' mentor, Alastor Moody commented dryly. "At least we only have to worry about one of them – even if it is harder to deal with than all the others put together."

Bones snorted uncharacteristically, "Always glass half-full, huh, Moody?"

"Would you rather they all had the ability to shrug off the Patronus charm?" Moony shot back.

The thought of that caused one of the weaker Aurors to burst out into tears and collapse.

"Where is the rogue Dementor now?" Bones asked the first Auror while she gestured to the others to care for their fallen colleague.

"It appears to be resting down on the rocks, Madame Bones," he answered. "If it were human, I would say that it was meditating."

"Keep an eye on it and inform us immediately-" Bones cut off abruptly when they felt the telltale coldness approaching them. She knew there would be no escape if it wanted to feed on them, and she refused to cower in the last moments of her life.

As before, the Dementor – formerly known as Buffy – appeared to ignore the Patroni cast at it and glided into a position in front of Bones and Moody. The others had informed her that they were housed and fed by these humans in exchange for keeping the criminals under control. She could sense their fear and dismay at the new threat, so she wanted to tell them the only threat was to those who were evil. In the rattling voice of death that all Dementors had, she said, "Evil gone from island now."

Shocked that the Dementor wasn't attacking them, Bones barely had the presence of mind to ask, "What about the Aurors you kissed?"

"Evil thoughts…very evil," she replied simply. "Rest of the humans not evil."

"Who's left in the prison?" Moody quickly asked the Auror who gave the initial report.

In reply, the Auror handed over a parchment with the survivors' names on it.

"What's Hagrid doing here?" Moody asked nobody in particular. "Black?! How can Black not be evil? Do you know what he did?" he yelled at the Dementor.

It almost looked like the Dementor shrugged before answering, "Thoughts were of innocence and protecting Harry-boy…and killing Peter-rat."

"Do you know why the Patronus charm doesn't affect you?" Bones asked, seeing as how the Dementor was being cooperative so far.

"Got used to slaying in pain," was the bizarre response.

"What will you do now? Will you still follow our commands?" Bones asked the next question that Fudge would want answered.

They were not assured by her reply.

"Must slay evil."

* * *

A/N: For this one, the betrayal wasn't explicitly mentioned in the story, but as a reviewer reminded me, this was just another time when the Scoobies and Giles ignored Buffy's concerns about something because they thought something else was wrong. They wanted to see what would be the result if something bad were to happen to Buffy.


	10. Chapter 10: Aug 29, 2013 – It Changes My

**Chapter 10: August 29, 2013 – It Changes My Life**

Chapter Summary: **The 'Betrayal' Part of the 2013 LiveJournal's Twisted Shorts FaD** series. Two former Sunnydalians(ites) find each other in Eureka.

Timeline: post-AU season 3 for BtVS; anytime post season 2 episode _'E=MC…?'_

Challenge: for the livejournal 2013 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Warning: Joyce died during Buffy's birthday test. Anti-Giles mostly.

A/N: For the last entry in this collection, I decided to try a double betrayal fic, meaning two people being betrayed separately. Thanks for all the encouragement and ideas; sorry if I didn't get to your choices.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. Eureka characters belong to Andrew Cosby, Jaime Paglia and SyFy Network. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**First betrayal**

**Giles' apartment**

"It is the order of the Watchers Council that for the murder of Allan Finch, you are to have your powers bound permanently and your memory of being a Slayer erased. Furthermore, you will be moved away from Sunnydale so you cannot corrupt the new Slayer with your ways," Quentin Travers pompously intoned.

Buffy snorted at that last part. The idea that she would be a corrupting influence on Faith was like saying rain would make the ocean wet.

She didn't think her opinion of the Council could sink any lower than it did after her birthday, when their little test cost her her mother, but they proved it could. She wasn't sure whether to be grateful or not that her mom didn't survive that test since who knows what they would do to her now. That made her wonder what they were going to tell her dad about her disappearance.

Her greatest disappointment – again – was Giles. Buffy thought for sure that _he'd_ believe her over Faith. His reply when she asked why he didn't hit her like a punch in the gut: "Many of your decisions over the past year have eroded my trust in your ability to do the right thing. While Faith may be a tad…enthusiastic, at least she puts that energy into her slaying."

Buffy never got the chance to find out if her friends would have believed her or Faith. Wesley and Giles caught her off-guard with some leftover drugs from the Cruciamentum and kept her hidden until Travers arrived with his goons. He pronounced his sentence and carried it out on the same day.

Buffy Summers ceased to exist that day.

* * *

**Months later…**

The memory rewrite worked better than the Council or their American allies could have hoped for. Her 'life' before she arrived in Eureka was so detailed that when asked about it, she could recount numerous stories about growing up with her brothers and father.

The paperwork created to hide her true identity could withstand the deepest probes possible, and included false documents at the hospitals she was supposedly treated at over the years for various illnesses and injuries.

It was her appearance that provided them with their greatest challenge. It was a challenge that the scientists in Section 5 of Global Dynamics were excited to tackle. Gone was the 5'3" blonde-haired, hazel-eyed Cali girl, and in her place was a 5'7" brunette with dark eyes and Mediterranean skin.

The only major glitch came with her powers and personality.

Even though they had managed to bind most of her Slayer abilities, she maintained a superior aptitude for both fighting techniques and using weapons of any kind, including firearms. She also still had the deep drive to protect the innocent. To cover those things, they gave her a background as an Army Ranger and set her up in Eureka as the sheriff's deputy.

So with three months of alterations and recreations of her life, Buffy Summers became Jo Lupo.

* * *

**Second betrayal (well, technically the first according to episode dates)**

After he caught Willow making out with Xander, Oz couldn't stay in Sunnydale…literally. If he hadn't been distracted by Cordy falling and getting impaled by the rebar, he probably would have ripped the couple to shreds – despite it not being a full moon.

Then Willow refused to leave him alone so he could regain his normal cool and consider the possibility of forgiving her someday. Because she was being relentless, he figured his only option was to leave town. So he tested for 'his' GED and left.

Unfortunately, Willow kept tracking Daniel 'Oz' Osbourne down using her hacking skills, so he had to go back to his original identity…Zane Donovan. How freaked would his ex-girlfriend be if she knew he was only pretending to be a slightly above average intelligence teenager. That he really had been accepted to MIT when he was 13, and several other schools after he was expelled for being too rebellious.

That he grew tired of being the boy genius and created a false identity so he could try being a regular teenager with regular problems. Okay, that part didn't work out so well, considering that normal teenagers didn't become werewolves and help fight demons and vampires. But it was certainly different.

As the years passed, Zane became a different man than he was when he played the part of Oz in Sunnydale. Due to an unexpectedly late growth spurt, he doubted anyone in Sunnydale would even recognize him. His personality changed as well. He talked more, had a jealous streak – due to losing the first girl he loved to the first boy she loved, and was a bit more self-centered. The only good change that happened was finding a way to control his transformations around the full moon.

All in all, he was having a good time playing the bad boy who still loved his mother and wouldn't go too far in his mischief for fear of disappointing her.

Then Eureka happened.

* * *

When Sheriff Carter mentioned everyone wanting to be part of something greater than themselves, he remembered the good days as a Scooby. The rush he felt when he was able to help Buffy and the others protect innocents. Idly, he wondered if she was still alive or if Faith was the only Slayer now. Or if it was a new girl altogether.

They kept the Big Bang experiment from leveling Eureka and that old rush came back to him, and this time, he wasn't just a sidekick…he was the hero of the story. Was Buffy as excited by that feeling or did the weight of always having to be the hero take away the joy being successful gave her?

Apart from being part of something again, he had to find out if he could make things work with Jo. There was something so intriguing about her. She felt challenging, yet familiar all at the same time to him.

For her, he would risk falling in love again. Something told him she was worth it.

* * *

A/N: Huh, huh? Is that not a cool premise or what?! I think it's a perfect ending to the Betrayal collection.


End file.
